Any exercise is good exercise, but when it comes to losing weight, it’s hard to beat running. After all, running is one of the most efficient ways to burn calories and get fit without having to restrict your diet. 31 If you’re not a runner yet but interested in losing weight, here are four reasons running can be the best exercise for weight loss.
32 When comparing running with walking the same distance, studies find that running will lead to greater weight loss, most likely because your resting energy expenditure stays elevated(高的) after you run. In a long-term comparison study of runners and walkers, calories burned through running led to 90% more weight loss than calories burned through walking.
Running is time-efficient. Even if the myth that running a mile and walking a mile burn the same number of calories were true, running is a considerably faster way to burn those calories. 33
Running is convenient. Though many of us have accumulated a vast arsenal(武器，装备) of GPS gadgets and tech tees over the years, little is actually required to go running. You can do it alone. You can do it almost anywhere. 34 For this reason alone, running is the best workout for weight loss because it’s cheap and accessible, and there are fewer barriers to maintaining a routine, even while traveling.
Two words: runner’s high. 35 Fortunately, studies support what many runners have experienced on an anecdotal level—running can actually get you high. Scientists have found links between moderate to intense exercise and morphine-like brain chemicals, which explains the occasional flood of thrill that rushes over you during a hard run. That happy sensation you had after your last race makes you want to go for another run, right?
A. Cultivate the good habit of running.
B. Running works even when you’re at rest.
C. You will never stick to a habit if you don’t like it.
D. The first rule of exercising for weight loss is that if you don’t enjoy it, you won’t stick with it.
E. You don’t need any equipment beyond a pair of running shoes.
F. If you’re already a runner, keep on.
G. Most people can run two or three times as far as they can walk in a given amount of time.